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The Agriculturist-April 13, 1982-Page 5
Task force to plan
for TAMU’s future
By BRENDA C. DAVIDSON
The Texas A&M University
System is a leading center of re
search and education that will
continue to grow and develop
under the guidance of the
Target 2000 Project, said its di
rector.
The purpose of Target 2000
is to develop a set of recommen
dations that describe the goals to
be attained by the System by the
year 2000, said Dr. Robert
Shutes, special assistant to the
chancellor.
A committee, appointed by the
Texas A&M University System
Board of Regents, is studying
the four campuses and the seven
agricultural and engineering
agencies and services which
make up the University system.
Committee members,
appointed because of their out
standing accomplishments and
their interest in the University
System, began work on the pro
ject in October 1981. They will
finish the study in October 1982.
Their final report and recom
mendations will be submitted to
the board in December 1982.
Long-range planning is a vit
al key to a university’s success,
Shutes said.
“We want to be one of the
pre-eminent universities in the
year 2000,” he said.
The task force will study
programs, clientele, resources
and organization of each System
part. The final report will in
clude the committee’s evalua
tion of each and recommenda
tions for its future.
The problems faced by the
University System are similar to
the ones faced by the state,
Shutes said. Target 2000 is simi
lar in purpose and scope to the
Texas 2000 Commission.
The Texas 2000 Commis
sion, created by Gov. Clements’
executive order, issued its re
port and recomendations in
March.
“Because the State can expect
to face a constant stream of chal
lenges to human resource and
economic development, state
wide long-range planning has
...The purpose of
Target 2000 is to de
velop a set of recomen
dations that describe the
goals to be attained by
the System by the year
2000, said Dr. Robert
Shutes, special assistant
to the chancellor.
become a necessity,” according
to the Commission report.
Several recommendations re
sulting from Target 2000 will be
similar to those of the Texas
2000 Commission, Shutes said.
The scarcity of water is a major
issue the committee will deal
with.
Disagreement about prop
osed water programs occurs be
cause water problems differ
throughout the state.
A Panhandle farmer knows
water is essential to produce
crops. As industry and cities
grow, on the other hand, de
mand for water increases. Con
flict results.
Who should have first
priority?
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
RECREATION AND PARKS CLUB
ACTIVITIES
Conferences
Senior Olympics
Guest Speakers
Thanksgiving Dinner
Workshops
Christmas Party
Chili Bang-out
Socials
Spring Golf Tournament
Awards Banquet
Club meetings are on the 1st & 3rd Tuesday of
each month. Open to all students, faculty and
staff.
Complicating matters furth
er, citizens in areas such as
Houston have a different pers
pective on the water problem.
Contaminated water, not the
shortage of it, is their concern.
A program providing infor
mation on water conservation to
farmers and ranchers was re
commended by the governor’s
commission. This program
would be implemented by the
Texas Agricultural Extension
Service.
The Target 2000 task force
will use the governor’s commit
tee report to shape their recom
mendations in several areas,
Shutes said. Research and de
velopment at the University,
strongly supported by the gov
ernor’s commission, is an ex
ample.
The Target 2000 task force
will recommend goals for re
search and development that
will help the Texas agricultural
and engineering industries
prosper.
The rate of increase in agri
cultural production has slowed
considerably in the last decade,
according to the Texas 2000
Commission Report. The Com
mission recommended in
creased emphasis on research
and development as one way to
reverse this trend.
There is a strong body of
opinion among the committee
that Texas A&M should become
the leading center of research in
the country, and Target 2000
could be a step in that direction,
Shutes said.
What is ag ethics?
By KITTT FRALEY
The changes that are
shaping tomorrow’s agricul
ture raise new ethical ques
tions, and a new class this tall
will focus on the ethics of
agriculture.
“The class will center on the
ethical problems agriculture
will be facing in the future,”
said Dr. Paul Thompson, a
professor in the philosophy
department who will be
teaching the course.
The course, entitled Agri
cultural Ethics, will be cross-
listed as a 489 agricultural
economics and philosophy
elective.
“This type of class has
been needed for quite a while
but has never been tried any
where before,” Thompson
said. “There has never been
an attempt to pull the disci
plines of agriculture and phi
losophy together.”
The course will analyze the
major moral and philo
sophical issues in agriculture,
he said. The issues will in
clude hunger, food distribu
tion, environmental policy,
resource allocation, nutri
tion, health, treatment of
anmals and the application of
scientific expertise in the for
mation of agricultural policy.
“The reason this course
will be part philosophical is
that in philosophy there’s not
really a definite right or
wrong answer,” Thompson
said. “When looking at the
problems in ag, we will con
sider all the questions and all
the answers.”
“With the addition of the
class, we’re trying to provide
a new look into agriculture,”
said Dr. H.O. Kunkel, dean
of the College of Agriculture.
Ethical concerns become
more a part of agriculture ev
ery day, he said, especially
the ethics involved in natural
resources like land, water,
food and even natural poli
cies.
“We decided to have a class
of this nature about four
years ago,” Kunkel said.
“And after going through all
the paper work and getting it
accepted by the Texas A&M
University System Board of
Regents, the toughest thing
was trying to find a philo
sopher with an interest in
agriculture to teach the
class.”
Kunkel said the basic ques
tion the class will try to an wer
is, What is the driving force
behind what people do and
how will this effect agricul
ture?
The course, which has no
prerequisites, will be a semi
nar class, Thompson said,
and students will be expected
to attend regularly and parti
cipate in discussion sessions.
Discussions will be based on
outside reading from speci
fied texts, class lectures, an
occasional guest lecturer and
^udio visual presentations.
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